Originally published at: Trump's defense lawyer extolls the diversity of West Virginia | Boing Boing
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I must have missed the part of the Trump administration where he advocated that criminals who commit a crime in a state can go shopping around the country and find the most lenient judge and jury possible. Seems to be contrary to the alleged Republican love of “law and order”.
West Virginia is a physically beautiful state with a lot of nice people, but the diversity that I’ve seen is people who like both country AND western.
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If he didn’t want to be tried by a jury of D.C. residents then maybe he shouldn’t have led an insurrection there.
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I would expect he would use the excuse that one of their senators cosplays as a Democrat, occasionally.
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Diversity is a non issue here. All he wants to do is delay by arguing a move.
Just more of the same BS.
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I heard that interview on NPR and I when he called WV “diverse” I was thinking he must mean political diversity. And while WV isn’t the reddest of red states, it’s certainly not a purple state. Maybe it’s the most be politically diverse state within 100 miles of DC? It was a bizarre suggestion and the NPR host should have called him out on it.
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So, we’re looking for a jury that will be more balanced.
“Shopping” for a forum that might be better for our client, if you will. Judges love when you say the quiet part out loud.
An NPR host failing to push back on an utterly ridiculous claim from a Trump surrogate, you say? They should check to see if this is officially the millionth time that’s happened, somebody could probably get a free car wash as a prize.
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“The blacks love me!” --Donald Trump
Sounds like DC would be the ideal venue from the defense’s standpoint, according to that quote.
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He clearly is talking about political party affiliation. The DC metro is 56% Democratic and 28% Republican. West Virginia is 41% Democratic and 43% Republican. The thing is, there is no right to a politically diverse jury. Ethnically diverse, yes. Religion, maybe…in some circumstances. Party affiliation? No. That’s what voie dire is for. Both sides get to try to figure out if a potential juror is likely to be biased and use a peremptory challenge to exclude them. Or even to exclude them for cause if they make it clear their mind is already made up or they have some clear conflict of interest.
But Trump’s lawyer knows all that. This isn’t a delaying tactic either, I don’t think. They want to constantly communicate that they believe this is a politically motivated prosecution, so they will grasp at any opportunity to spin politics into this trial.
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And we’re hoping for a jury that doesn’t come with any implicit or explicit bias or prejudice.
The old, “My client’s offences are too heinous for him to get a fair trial.” defence.
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Let’s see. Ranked 47th for education and economy. Ranked dead last for health care and infrastructure. If LK-99 turned out to be an success, how it would completely wreck the coal industry and in turn what’s left of the state’s economy could cause mass civil unrest there.
Trump would absolutely welcome the chaos there too in an attempt to wiggle out of his bullshit.
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There is also another reason Trump’s lawyer is bringing this up now, and it’s procedural. He’s reserving that as a potential issue on appeal, if Trump loses.
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This clown was on PBS Newshour yesterday too. (I was gonna post a link to that segment, but the Newshour used a thumbnail of the former guy, and I don’t want that picture here.)
This sleaze was making a bunch of BS arguments, including moving the venue. I kept yelling, Get him, Geoff! because the host, Geoff Bennett, was making an effort to call some of that BS. IIRC, he did a yeoman’s job, but could/should have been tougher.
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100%. Even when they do use delaying techniques, it is absolutely sending a “lock and load” signal to his terrorists base. Unfortunately for him, I think he kind of shot his load on Jan 6 and just won’t have that kind of mass, organized effort again. Stochastic terrorism, sure, but as frustrating as it can be to see one of these thugs get a plea deal, the ones who really matter (ie. the real conspirators like Rhodes) are getting “makes you think twice” sentences.
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Everything about his defenses is always delay.
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The discrepancy between voter registration and Presidential race results in West Virginia has a lot to do with how the hot-button topic of coal is handled differently on the state vs. nationwide level.
West Virginia Democrats like Joe Manchin are often way out of lockstep with the party as a whole because they know a lot of their votes depend on propping up the fossil fuel industry. When a Presidential candidate like Joe Biden runs for national office he knows that he has more to gain from pushing long-term plans for clean energy than he has to gain by supporting special interests like the coal industry.
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That, and when you factor in the usual efforts to suppress Democratic votes (election on a workday, polls often placed in areas difficult for people who rely on public transportation to reach, restrictions on vote by mail, etc etc etc) and you have an explanation for the discrepancy. Also, West Virginia only relatively recently started voting Republican in Presidential elections (since 2000). There may still be people who are voting Republican who just haven’t bothered to change their official party registration.
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This. If he’d led an insurrection at the state house in Charleston, would anyone have noticed?
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